Please Note: The Bitch Is Back
Please forgive the delay in correspondence.
Maybe it’s the ADHD. Maybe the beauty empire is empiring. Maybe the love interest I manifested for Q2 arrived right on time and I’m now so besotted I’ve begun behaving irrationally—ensorcelled, as it were. Maybe it’s just that I suffer from the particular obsessive-compulsive paralysis that makes publishing even one of the seven clunky, imperfect, poorly written Substacks collecting dust in my drafts feel impossible.
Maybe it’s all of the above.
I’ve written letters about building a summer wardrobe for Jules, age 10, who recently developed an interest in girls and informed me that “his fits must be tuff.” I’ve written about my world-class summer skincare routine for ruin his life aura. I’ve written about the very specific boob job the girls who “don’t get boob jobs” are quietly getting—all publishing before the end of May. Promise. Done is better than perfect.
Whatever the case, I’m not making excuses—only explaining why a creeping existential dread has started attaching itself to my weekly postings on Substack, even though it’s all I really want to do. I just want to write perfect letters for my elite readership: you and our crew.
So, I’ve decided to channel that fear into something I think I can manage to publish more consistently; a weekly letter that condenses the spirit of Please Note into a sharper, faster, scrappy roundup.
Introducing Noted: a weekly dispatch from Please Note—featuring things observed, obsessed over, recommended, investigated, purchased, abandoned, screenshotted, and discussed in the group chat.
In this letter, you will find Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jason Statham, Bryan Lourd, Sue Mengers, skincare recs, Fara Homidi, the newest self-tanner to end all other self tanners, Hotel du Cap, Timothée Chalamet, and other mentionables.
Please Note, Jason Statham Summers at the Most Exclusive Resort in the World. Plenty of Other Men Are Trying to Get into That Bed.
She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in real life.
April Aries.
A 5’9” tall drink of water.
Beautiful.
Blonde.
British.
Brilliant.
A bona fide baddie.
I first met Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the living room of Bryan Lourd’s mid-century modern home in Holmby Hills. It was 2011, when Hollywood parties were still glamorous, indulgent, and private. The most coveted invitations came from Sue Mengers or Bryan Lourd. Glamorous in that the women were movie stars, supermodels, and elusive international hot girls. Indulgent in that George Clooney was presumed to be fucking one of them in the coat closet. Private in that none of it appeared online by dawn.
This was before Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat—when “content creators” were called directors, and celebrities still possessed mystery. You saw them only in the glossy pages of magazines flipped through absentmindedly while waiting in line at the grocery store. Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet were pimple-faced teenagers with big dreams and an 11pm curfew.
A few weeks ago, the team at Violet Grey opened our first international outpost at Harvey Nichols in London, so naturally I crossed the pond for the occasion. I have known since our very first shoot that London would be Violet Grey’s first international home. That shoot—creative directed by my dear friend Rosie Huntington-Whiteley—took place at the estate of Robert Evans and set the tone for the many shoots to come, ultimately establishing the standard of excellence and sex appeal we have always tried to uphold.
Rosie was essentially a cofounder of Violet Grey. Her charm, discipline, wit, and singular brand of “It Girl” nonchalant glamour—paired with an unapologetic confidence—became the aesthetic every celebrity stylist spent the next decade attempting to replicate. She made polish look effortless. Luxury look instinctive. Beauty look inevitable.
So naturally, Rosie hosted a dinner for VIOLET GREY & Madame Grey at Maison Estelle for us to celebrate. Guests included the Chief International Anchor for CNN, Christiane Amanpour CBE, London-based model and writer Laura Bailey, the iconic founder of MUTHA, Hope Smith, VIOLET GREY’s facialist to the stars, Melanie Grant, the handsome and witty in demand hairstylist, Chistian Wood the all-knowing-beauty-guru Dr. Ewoma Ukeleghe, Vogue Australia EIC Christine Centenera, Carson Griffith of Rich People Shit, the original girlboss Sophia Amoruso (who also pens a Substack), Nicky Hilton Rothschild, actress Alice Eve, Creative Director Abisola Omole, U Beauty founder and dear friend Tina Craig, and too many more of our incredible friends in beauty and media to name. I adore you all and so appreciate you coming out to celebrate with and welcome us.
And I thought Estelle Manor was the most quintessentially chic UK experience…until I arrived at her sister club in London, Maison Estelle. Eiesha’s got taste and the audacity to like, realize stuff. The vibes were immaculate, and naturally we ended up on the rooftop after dinner for a cheeky skinny cigarette. New York is coming—with clubs opening in Flatiron and on the UES and Upstate.
And my dinner toast below. Warning: this gallery contains adult content. viewer discretion is advised.
